


Lavender

by cecilantro



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 09:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilantro/pseuds/cecilantro
Summary: It’s driving Calebwild, every time Molly flounces past him, the air that follows is floral-tinged and Caleb breathes lavender for a split second before Molly’s gone.





	Lavender

**Author's Note:**

> i 100% wrote this in advance i have a late dnd group tonight with me luck yall

Mollymauk runs well with the lavender theme, it helps that it’s a scent, a taste that he enjoys. Morning ritual for Molly is daubing himself with lavender oil, when he bathes, he rinses his hair with a dilute of the stuff.   
It’s driving Caleb  _ wild _ , every time Molly flounces past him, the air that follows is floral-tinged and Caleb breathes lavender for a split second before Molly’s gone.   
  
It gets so bad by the time they make it to Zadash that Caleb adds  _ finding some fucking lavender _ to his to-do list, and gets that opportunity whilst Jester is still patching up her wounds from their fight with Sif.   
The downtime gives them all time to split up, and Caleb spends a lot of it trawling the streets. Occasionally, he’ll take someone with him, rarely Nott, more often, it’s Beau or Yasha.    
When he finds the little planters of poorly-tended lavender bushes, he’s alone, and glad for it.   
He loses two silver, there, it irks him that such a piss-poor plant is so expensive but now that he’s  _ found _ it, there’s no way he’s giving it up.   
So he takes the planter away, drops a few copper on a larger pot on the way back to The Leaky Tap, and scoots upstairs without anyone seeing, save Nott, but she doesn’t question him. It’s not the first odd thing that Caleb has brought home, and if she makes any connection, she doesn’t mention it. He asks her to use her alchemical talents on something to help the plant grow and she sighs heavily, sets aside the chains that she’s working on, and begins to set up her kit.   
It takes her a few hours, scampering out to the alley every now and then with a dropper of whatever she needs to test, before she comes back to Caleb and hands him a vial.   
“It’s not  _ magic _ .” She tells him firmly, “It’ll take a while to have an effect, but for that thing-” she jabs a thumb toward the lavender plant, “It should perk up in about fifteen minutes.”   
“Thank you.” Caleb takes the vial and inspects it, “What did you design it to do?”   
“Well, it’s the first one to not burn a hole through the plant, so I hope it’ll give extra nutrients. And that sort of shit. There’s a  _ lot _ of fucking bone in there, Caleb! Like, so much!”   
She waves a pouch at him, significantly less heavy than before she started.   
Caleb smiles at her,   
“I will buy you some more bone at the earliest opportunity. Thank you, Nott.”   
“Any time, Caleb.” She smiles at him, but it’s tired, and she tidies up her kit and curls into bed, falling asleep without even pulling the quilt over her shoulders. Caleb tips a little of the serum to the roots of the plant, re-corks the vial, and heads to her side to tuck her in. He kisses her hair gently when he’s done.   
“ _ Danke _ .” And he’s back to his bed to continue reading.

 

The evening before the festival, Caleb retires early. He’s exhausted, mentally and emotionally, and Molly keeps leaning across him to slap at Beau, leaving a trail of lavender scent in his wake. So Caleb heads to his room, tips a little more of the serum onto the plant’s roots- Nott was right, the lavender has perked up and the drooping flowers have already begun to bloom again. He takes a deep breath of lavender scent, and begins the ritual of kicking off his boots and coat and unbuckling his holsters, he sits, and begins to re-read the battered copy of  _ Tusk Love _ once again, because it’s the only book that he has right now.   
The door opens.   
“Knock knock.” Comes Molly’s voice, and Caleb puts his thumb on the page where he’s read to, rolls his eyes as he sits up.   
Molly comes to the edge of his bed and throws a book down, Caleb scrambles for it.   
“Yasha bought you that when she was out, but by the time she remembered, you’d left. Said I’d bring it to you, since she’s currently being fussed over by her  _ girlfriend _ .”   
Caleb drags his eyes quickly from the book to Molly’s face.   
“Oh- is this a jest, or did Beauregard finally get off of her ass?”   
“Jester, actually.” Molly grins as he sits on the end of the bed, “So Beau came subsequently, but it’s all pretty official n… now, Caleb, what is that?”   
Molly points. Caleb already knows what he’s pointing at, and his heart is in his throat, but he turns slowly to follow Molly’s line of pointing anyway.   
And it’s the lavender.   
His quick brain whirrs to think of a good excuse and he takes a split second to decide on shrugging, he turns back to Molly’s eyes.   
“Something has been reminding me how much I enjoy the scent of lavender lately,” he chooses the half-truth, “It was bordering on annoying, so…” he jerks his head toward the plant and shrugs again.   
“Caleb.” Molly says in a deadpan, “Come here.”   
Caleb closes the foot gap between them, trying very hard to keep the shake out of his voice,   
“What?”   
Molly tilts his head so that the peacock tattoo stretches and Cale gets to watch every beautiful moment of it.   
“Sniff.”   
“What the fuck, Mollymauk?” Caleb spits before he can run the sentence through his own head, Molly sighs loudly.   
“I am telling you to smell me.” He says, flatly, and Caleb shuffles tentatively closer,   
“Why?”   
“Do it, or tell me that you know why. I’ll accept either.”   
Caleb leans toward Molly and braces a hand against his leg, the scent of lavender swirls around Molly in a pleasant cloud, and he sighs serenely, remembers he’s meant to be lying, and scrambles back.   
“Oh.” He says, and knows it doesn’t sound convincing. “It- it was you.”   
“I don’t believe for a fucking second that you didn’t know that.” Molly tugs at his collar to put it back in place, and Caleb’s smile is a little wry.    
“How was I meant to- to know that you are coated daily in lavender oil?”   
“You know that it’s lavender oil.” Molly points out, and Caleb knows he’s caught.   
“ _ Verdammt _ .” Under his breath, and Molly chuckles, the deadpan falls away and he crawls across the bed to put an arm around Caleb’s shoulders.   
“You know you could have just asked? I keep  _ so _ many lavender oil vials, Caleb, I could have given you one.”   
“It- the scent is not, exactly, what I had issue with.” Caleb curls closer despite himself, and Molly squeezes briefly.   
“Then tell me what the issue is, darling, and I’ll try to help.”   
Caleb shrugs Molly’s arms from his shoulders, and Molly makes a confused noise in his throat.   
“It will hurt me less when you choose to extricate yourself if you are not showing me affection at the time.” Caleb tells him in explanation, and takes a deep breath before speaking again, “Mollymauk, my issue is with  _ you _ .”   
Molly starts, and looks hurt, and Caleb feels a twinge of regret,   
“My issue is that I lose myself whenever you come past me, and that I have had to purchase a  _ plant _ because the smell of lavender reminds me so much of you, and it helps me to sleep, in a way stronger than lavender should.”   
“Ah.” Molly says as though he understands perfectly. Caleb steels himself as he waits for Molly to leave.   
And is surprised when Molly puts his arm back around Caleb’s shoulders.   
“You could have just asked.” Molly says, and he’s so close to Caleb’s ear that the wizard feels a shudder run down his whole body.   
“It is not an issue for you that I feel this way?”   
“Oh, darling.” Molly laughs and the sound is  _ divine _ , “It is the furthest thing from an issue that I have in my life right now.”   
Molly’s other arm comes up around Caleb’s waist and Molly is pulling and they flump down to the pillow below, Caleb still stunned and staring, he turns to his side in Molly’s arms.   
“If- if you do not reciprocate my feelings,” he says, with Molly’s arms around him, “that is okay, I won’t let them interfere-”   
“Caleb.” Molly squeezes him, “I am  _ quite literally _ in your bed, cuddling with you, what part of this suggests that I  _ don’t _ reciprocate your feelings?”   
Like his head is a bell and someone has just hit it with a hammer, Caleb hears the harsh chime in the silence that follows.   
“Oh.” he manages, and Molly chuckles, leans over, and kisses at the tip of Caleb’s nose.   
“How much did you spend on the lavender, Caleb?”   
“I… two- two silver?” Caleb tries very hard not to squeak.   
“ _ Two silver _ ?” Molly repeats, incredulous, and Caleb nods, fighting back laughter at the ridiculousness of it all. Molly gives a snort of a laugh, and Caleb loses it. He clutches at Molly as he laughs, and when he sobers up, he and Molly are practically braided, they’re so entwined.    
“You paid two silver for an introduction to a confession you could have given me for free.” Molly says, warmth against Caleb’s shoulder, and Caleb gives a breath of laughter as he nods,   
“ _ Ja _ , it is- it is ridiculous, now that I know better.”   
“Is it okay if I- ah- if I kiss you?” Molly falls over his own confidence, and it’s something like amusing to Caleb, who pulls away enough to meet Molly’s eyes.   
“Do you think that my answer to that would be no?”   
“I need to ask, and I need an answer.” Molly says seriously, and Caleb rolls his eyes, dramatic and exasperated, but he understands,   
“Yes, Molly,  _ of course _ you can.”   
So Molly pushes forward and presses his lips to Caleb’s, the instant they make contact, Molly feels Caleb’s fingers tighten and ball in the fabric of Molly’s shirt, bridging the shift between affectionate and desperate in all the time it takes for just the gentlest of kisses, and he pulls. Caleb comes ever so slightly closer, the kiss becomes harder, and time slips past them just a little too fast.   
By the time they manage to catch up to it, it’s morning. They’d fallen asleep, sometime between the first kiss and first light, all tangled up in Caleb’s bedding and one another.   
The scent of lavender is heavy in the air.   
“Nothing has changed this morning?” is the first, concerned thing that Caleb asks, and Molly smiles a little at his worry. Shakes his head, and affirms to Caleb,   
“Nothing has changed.


End file.
